If nothing else, the 2005-06 Montana Grizzlies would prove to be one of the most entertaining teams in all of college basketball with a high flying explosive offense and a sieve like defense. It would take very little time for Montana to develop an “over” reputation with college basketball “sharps” as they often came seemingly close to melting down the scoreboard.
Profitable start
Montana began the 2005-06 season at Boise State as 5-point dogs in a 69-90 loss and failure against the spread, which left little encouragement as the Broncos are hardly with a basketball powerhouse reputation. If nothing else, however, the loss helped make the relatively anonymous Grizzlies even more of a bargain value than they already would be. Montana rebounded in their next game at Loyola-Marymount with an 81-75 win and cover as 12-point dogs.
Montana next opened the home portion of their schedule with back-to-back unlined wins. They first beat Western Oregon 86-57 and followed that up with a 75-59 win over Utah Valley State. Back on the board against “name brand” team Stanford of the Pac-10, Montana scored an impressive 88-69 win and cover as 6-point home dogs. In a rematch against Loyola Marymount at home, the Grizzlies scored a strong and convincing 79-61 win as 6-point chalks. This was followed up with a neutral court unlined win over Mississippi Valley State 81-57. Montana next traveled to Drake where they scored a 78-72 overtime win and cover as 5.5-point dogs for their fourth consecutive payoff against the sportsbooks. That was followed by another unlined win, this time 110-71 at home over Montana Western.
Market Correction
Montana was riding high as they traveled to California-Riverside as 12.5-point chalks but proved to be an overlay in a 77-67 win. This was followed by a 67-56 win at Santa Clara as 2.5-point dogs.
A sports betting market correction took full force in the Grizzlies’ next game at home against Wisconsin-Milwaukee as Montana was defeated 74-78 as 1.5-point home chalks. Montana next proved to be an overlay yet again as they beat Idaho State 80-76 as 14-point chalks. Another overlay followed in the Grizzlies’ next game, a 71-65 win over Weber State as 14.5-point chalks for Montana’s third consecutive loss against the spread and fourth in five games.
Brief Rebound
Montana briefly got back on track at intrastate rival Montana State with a strong 80-64 win and cover as 1-point chalks. That was followed by an 80-83 loss at Northern Arizona in a pick’em before the Grizzlies scored back-to-back payoffs. The first winning ticket was a 73-71 win at Sacramento State as 1.5-point dogs followed by a 98-77 win at home over Portland State as 13-point chalks to complete a brief rebound of three covers in four games.
Overlays again
Montana proved to be overlays again in their next game, a 78-72 win over Eastern Washington as 11.5-point chalks. This was followed by a 67-72 loss at Weber State as 6.5-point chalks and then an ugly 70-95 loss at Idaho State as 5.5-point chalks. The Grizzlies briefly stopped the bleeding with a 70-61 home win over Montana State as 8.5-point chalks but failed again in their next game, an 84-79 home win over Sacramento State as 9-point home overlays for their fourth loss against the spread in five games.
Bounceback
Montana came home to host Oral Roberts and scored an 88-74 win and cover as 2.5-point chalks. That was followed by an impressive 68-46 win at Eastern Washington as 1-point dogs. The Grizzlies then went to Portland State where they scored a 92-93 loss as 2-point chalks but resumed their bounceback with a 96-83 win over Northern Arizona as 8-point chalks to end the regular season with three covers in four games.
Post Season Split
Montana won the Big Sky tourney, splitting the two games against the spread and then split their NCAA run 1-1 both SU and ATS.